The Pope’s first Tweets

￼Nine days ago, the Vatican launched the first personal Twitter accounts for the Pope, giving Pope Benedict XVI the opportunity to tweet in English (via @Pontifex) and in seven other major languages.

The day these accounts were launched, Pope Benedict also invited the world to send him questions about faith via #AskPontifex. He promised to respond to some of these questions nine days later. And now, with tens of thousands of questions in hand, @pontifex has answered: Today, the Pope sent his first Tweet during a live event at the Vatican attended by thousands.

Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart. — Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

This Tweet was immediately retweeted thousands of times, and shortly afterwards @pontifex and its seven related language accounts began responding to several questions tweeted in the past week. The first question, asked by Spanish journalist @jcalderero in Madrid, asked: